Overall, this is a fine all-around lens, especially if you’re traveling, a beginner and/or on a budget. With that said, the auto focus capabilities leave much to be desired.
I’ve been using this Tamron lens on an a7iii for the past 15 months or so. It was a long overdue replacement to the kit lens and an old telephoto a-mount lens I was using. The 28-200mm focal range covers a large area and is very appealing. The lens is not overly heavy or large, making it great for traveling. For many photographers, this can be a decent all-around lens, limiting how many lenses you have to carry. It is an upgrade from the kit lens in most areas.
I primarily shoot landscapes and storms. When I first used this lens, I thought I was doing something wrong. The auto focus was very slow, sometimes not able to focus at all. After several months of use and research, I’ve accepted that it’s just not very good with auto focus. I’ve tried every focusing mode imaginable and upgraded firmware. Maybe the a7iii body is part of the limitation, but I think it’s largely the lens itself.
When I’m storm chasing, I need a quick and accurate focus, especially when there’s a tornado. These phenomena rarely last longer than a few minutes, so every second counts. It seems like auto focus with this lens is good with close or “obvious” subjects, but I cannot get it to consistently lock in on clouds and other distant objects, even when zoomed in and on a tripod.
On the bright side, I was pleasantly surprised at how this lens performed for the April 2024 solar eclipse. With a filter, zoomed in to 200mm (NO teleconverter), manual focus and using the a7iii, I had low expectations. I was able to capture multiple solar prominences and had shots that I’m proud of, after some modest editing.
I definitely have mixed feelings on this lens. It does outperform the kit lens with clarity. The extra reach is great, but the auto focus is no better than the kit lens. For the first few months of use, I forced myself to stick to this lens to get comfortable with it and the focusing still disappoints me.
I later upgraded to the 16-35mm GMii lens and that lens is in a whole different league. For most landscapes and storm chasing, I need the wider angles anyway. The native 16-35mm rarely leaves my camera, outside of portrait shoots. I’m just disappointed that if there’s a tornado on the horizon, I can’t switch to the Tamron lens to zoom in with any confidence. I recently had another storm chase with a tornado last week and I needed the extra zoom. Auto focus wouldn’t work with this lens and I quickly snapped to manual focus, but due to time constraints, I was shooting handheld and didn’t get the best focus before the tornado dissipated.
Honestly, prior to the eclipse, I was ready to give this lens away. I was surprised at how this lens handled that event, even at 200mm with a filter. That performance won me back, but then recent tornado events reminded me about how bad this lens can be with auto focus.
I am planning on upgrading camera bodies in 2025, probably the a7Rv, so I am curious to see how this lens handles in that case. I’ll update this review once that happens and I’ve had some time to play with it.